Love Sick
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Chapter 2
As tired as Paige had been when she went to bed that night she just couldn't sleep. Her thoughts were on her childhood and her mother but mostly her thoughts were on Mark. Every time she closed her eyes she saw his face and wished that he were laying beside her comforting her in her time of need. Holding her and whispering little terms of endearment in her ear, but who was she kidding? Mark wasn't the type to whisper terms of endearments he was the type to grunt as he fucked your brains out.
"Come to think of it I wouldn't mind that either." Paige thought to herself with a smile.
It was only six am but Paige gave up trying to sleep. She got up and showered before heading downstairs, to do what she wasn't sure. Paige decided that she would make fresh sticky buns for the twins before she started making the proper phone calls about her mommas funeral services. She knew that her momma would want to have the service at the Church she grew up in as a child she just had to call and let them know the day and the time she would like the service to be held. Paige knew that she was behind schedule with making all the arrangements but that was something that just could not be helped. She had written out her mothers obituary the night before and would run it over to the printers and have copies made. Then she would take her mothers favorite dress over to the funeral home so that she was sure her mother looked nice. Just thinking about having to do all of those things depressed Paige and made her extremely sad and the thought of having to go to the funeral home gave her the creeps, but she was doing what needed to be done and she wasn't going to gripe about it now.
"Good morning mom." Kasey said coming down stairs and taking a seat beside her mother on the couch.
"Hey my sweetheart, did you sleep okay?" Paige asked as she wiped away a few stray tears that had settled on her cheeks.
"Yea." Kasey said with a stretch.
"You know that was my old room when I was a kid, momma hadn't changed a thing about it since I left."
"Mom, why didn't we ever come here to visit grams?"
"Well your grams always came to visit us and go on family trips with us, there was just never a need for me to comeback here."
"But why? I know that grams made you move to North Carolina when you were little but you never told us why."
"Well Kase the truth is your grams sent me away because I was stupid and got pregnant with you and your brother and honestly she was ashamed of me for it. She didn't want to deal with what people would say if they knew her fourteen year old daughter was having a baby. I guess she figured it would ruin her reputation. I was mad at her for caring more about the gossip than she did about me so I made a vow to never come back to this town, but then your grams and I we talked out our differences and that's when she started coming to visit us from time to time." Paige said.
"So grams didn't want you to have me and Kasey?" Kody asked joining Paige and Kasey.
"That's not it Kode, I think it was more like she was afraid that I was just to young to be a mom and in some ways she was right. I don't know if you guys remember but your Great Auntie Barbara took care of you more than I did before she got sick and that was a relief for me because I was afraid that I would somehow screw up at raising you guys but I think I'm doing pretty okay, what do you two think?"
"You do ok." Kody joked.
"Oh gee thanks." Paige chuckled.
"Mom do you think our real dad still lives here?" Kasey asked quietly.
"Well ummm, well Kase I don't know. Like I told you guys he went off to college years ago and I don't know what happened to him after that." Paige said.
"Could you find out if he moved back here after college?"
"Why would you want to know that for stupid?" Kody asked.
"Because he is our dad idiot!"
"Hey no name calling you two." Paige warned.
"He is a guy that got mom pregnant but that doesn't make him our dad that makes him a sperm donor." Kody snapped.
"Hey young man you better watch your mouth before I get my belt, I don't ever want to hear you say anything like that ever again. Do you have any idea how what you just said makes me feel?" Paige asked upset.
"I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean it. It's just that its always been just the three of us, except for the time you were married to that loser, Cooper, but that works for us."
"I know Kode and no matter what the three of us will always be "The Three Brewsterteers" even if one day I find a man that loves me and wants to be with me."
"And us?" Kasey asked.
"Hey we are a package if you don't want all three of us then you can't have any of us." Paige said pulling the twins into a hug.
"You promise?" Kasey asked.
"Yes baby, I promise now come on I was going to make sticky buns now you two can help." Paige said as she got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen behind a running Kasey and Kody.
"Mom after we finish breakfast and get dressed can we call Mark?" Kody asked picking up his second sticky bun.
"I don't have Mark's number Kode and even if I did I wouldn't let you call him and bug him to death about taking you and your sister to the rec. center." Paige said.
"He gave me his cell number last night and I gave him yours, you know in case of any emergencies." Kody said flashing a million dollar smile at his mom.
"Kody Benjamin Brewster what are you up too?" Paige asked her mischievous son.
"Nothing mom, come on Kasey let's go get dressed." Kody said practically yanking his sister out of her chair and pulling her up the stairs.
"He is his mothers son." Paige laughed as she watched them leave. She knew that Kody was up to something and she knew it had something to do with Mark she just wasn't sure of what, but she was definitely going to figure it out.
"Just what are you up to Kody?" Kasey asked once they were safely upstairs.
"We are going to get mom and Mark together." Kody whispered.
"We are?" Kasey asked shocked.
"Yeah, you like Mark don't you?"
"He's nice I guess, but what makes you think mom likes him like that?"
"I can just tell."
"I don't know about this Kode."
"Come on Kase you don't want mom crying herself to sleep every night for the rest of her life do you?"
"No I guess not."
"Then you got to help me."
"What do you want me to do?" Kasey asked sitting down on the bed.
"We will ask mom if we can go out tonight for pizza at that restaurant we saw coming here from the rec. center and while you keep mom busy I will call Mark and invite him to join us and then we he gets there just make it seem like a random meeting."
"What if he tells mom you called?"
"I will ask him not to."
"I don't know about this Kody, but if you think it will work I'm in." Kasey said to her brother.
"This is going to work Kase, mom deserves to have a man that will love her no matter what, unlike Cooper and I am pretty sure Mark will be good to mom and to us." Kody said.
"I hope this doesn't end up backfiring in us Kody." Kasey said walking out of the room.
"Knock Knock." Mark said tapping on the door.
"It's unlocked Mark come on in." Paige yelled from the kitchen.
"Hey Punky." Mark said walking in and kissing Paige's cheek.
"Good afternoon Mark.' Paige said with a smile.
"How was your first night back here?"
"Didn't sleep a wink." Paige said honestly.
"You should go take a nap. I will take the kids to the rec. center while you get some rest." Mark said rubbing her shoulders.
"I appreciate the offer but I couldn't take a nap if I wanted to. I have way too much to do today. I have to take the obituary to be printed up and get copies, call the Church to make sure the service date and time are available then take momma's dress to the funeral home, I'll be lucky to even have time to cook dinner for the twins tonight." Paige sighed.
"I can help with some of that stuff Paige you shouldn't have to do everything by yourself."
"Well if you could take the obituary down to the printers that would be great."
"Consider it done Darlin and don't worry about cooking dinner tonight I will take you and the twins out."
"No Mark that won't be necessary…"
"Don't bother arguing with me Punky. I am taking you guys out tonight and that is final." Mark said sternly.
"Yes Sir." Paige said giving in.
"That's what I thought." Mark smiled.
"Thanks Mark." Paige said sincerely.
"It's my pleasure Punky." Mark said placing an escaped curl back behind Paige's ear.
"Did you hear that? Mom and Mark don't need our help they seem to be doing fine all by themselves but we will keep an eye on things just in case they need our help." Kody said as he and Kasey listened from the stairs.
"Maybe you're right Kody, maybe Mark is just what mom needs to be happy again."
"Hey guys Mark is here to take you to the rec. center." Paige called from the kitchen.
"Hey Mark." Kasey said.
"Hey there beautiful." Mark said to Kasey making her blush.
"What's up Mark?" Kody asked.
"Hey little man, you two ready to get going?" Mark asked.
"Yeah!" The twins said excitedly.
"Let's get goin." Mark said.
"See you later mom." Kasey said hugging her mother.
"Have fun honey."
"Bye mom." Kody said.
"Bye baby."
"I'll call you after I leave the printers and we can meet up somewhere until it's time to pick up the kids." Mark said placing a kiss to Paige's temple before leaving.
"Did you see him kiss her?" Kody asked his sister as Mark drove them to the rec. center.
"Yep did you see the smile on her face after he did it?"
"I sure did." Kody said as he hi-fived his sister.
"What are you two back there whispering about?" Mark asked as he watched them in the rearview mirror.
"Nothing." They both said.
"What do you mean my mother didn't have insurance?" Paige asked in total disbelief.
Paige was in the office of the owner of the funeral home director. She thought all she was going to have to do was drop off her mothers dress but learned that she had a major problem once she got there.
"Your mothers insurance lapsed a few years back after she stopped making payments on the policy. I'm sorry Ms. Brewster I thought you were aware of this."
"So how much would I have to pay to bury my mother in two days?"
"Covering everything including the casket and the burial plot I would say around seventeen hundred dollars."
"Seventeen hundred dollars? I don't have that kind of money Mr. Wyatt." Paige said running her fingers through her long hair.
"Call me Leo and I know that this has hit you pretty hard but there is no way around this."
"What am I supposed to do?" Paige sighed.
"Do you have a credit card or any other means of payment?"
Paige was about to say 'no' and then she remembered that she had a credit card that she had never used. It was in Coop's name and she promised herself that she would never use it because she didn't want to ever have to worry about the interest rates but hell this was an emergency.
Paige pulled her wallet out of her pocketbook and slipped the credit card out of it.
"Charge this." Paige said hesitantly. She would deal with the consequences later.
"I will be back to pick you guys up in a couple of hours and then we will all go out to dinner."
"Okay Mark see ya." Kody said as he and Kasey ran inside.
"Where are ya Punky?" Mark asked Paige when she answered her phone.
"Just left the funeral home." Paige said.
"You don't sound like you're in a good mood right now."
"I just found out some bad news."
"How bad?" Mark asked.
"Meet me at Carvel I need a major sugar rush right now."
"Be there in ten." Mark said and hung up.
"I'm sorry Paige seems like things are just getting worse for you."
"Yeah but I used Coop's credit card well its my card but its in his name."
"Coop, he's your ex-husband right?"
"How'd you know that?" Paige questioned as she ate another spoonful of her double scoop of birthday cake ice cream.
"Kody told me about him."
"Oh yeah and just what did he tell you?"
"He told me that you two were married a little over a year and that he cheated on you and then you two got a divorce."
"I have a feeling he told you more than that."
"Well he might have mentioned that Cooper promised to support you but hasn't made a payment in about four months."
"He shouldn't have told you that, but it's true. Things have been a little tough without that money too."
" Why don't you use the credit card?"
"Because I don't want to have to worry about making payments on some stupid credit card when I can barely pay the other bills I have and take care of two kids."
"Why not try and find a better paying job?"
"I have but times are hard all around it seems and it's like no one is hiring now a days, so I'm making the best of the hand I've been dealt."
"Why not move back here and I don't know go back to school and get a degree in nursing or something." Mark suggested.
"I wouldn't have to move back to Willow Oaks to go back to school." Paige pointed out with a smirk.
"True, but you said it yourself, now that your momma is gone you have no family and if you are here at least you know you always have a friend you can count on." Mark said looking her in the eyes.
"I don't know Mark. I can't just drag the twins here to live; they would miss all their friends and would have to start all over at a new school."
"They have made friends with a lot of the kids at the rec. center all ready and those are the same kids they would be going to school with."
"Mark…"
"Hey it's just something to think about you don't have to make any decisions right now, take all the time you need to and when your ready talk to Kasey and Kody about it, who knows maybe they will enjoy the change I know that I would love to have all three of you around for a while."
Paige felt the butterflies in her stomach going crazy, just what was Mark saying? Did he want her to stay as his friend or could he possibly want more? Paige decided she had way too much on her plate to even think about this right now so she quickly changed the subject.
"Hey Mark?"
"Yea Punky?" Mark asked still watching her.
"Does Seth still live in Willow Oaks?"
"I think so, why?" Mark asked raising a eyebrow.
"Well Kasey asked about him this morning and I couldn't answer her I just figured you would know."
"So the twins want to meet their father?" Mark asked praying that the answer was 'no'."
"I think Kasey does but Kody made it obvious that he doesn't want to meet him."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah let me see how did Kody put it this morning, he referred to Seth as… a guy that got his mom pregnant and that didn't make him their dad it just made him a sperm donor." Paige said mocking her son.
"Damn that's pretty harsh."
"Tell me about it. It made me feel really bad you know because in a way he was right, but I hated that he was right."
"He shouldn't have said that in front of you."
"No he shouldn't have but at least now I know how he feels."
"So are you going to look Seth up?"
"Yes, but I'm not going to tell Kasey until after I've had a chance to talk to him and see if he is the same bastard he was ten years ago or if he is mature enough to meet the daughter that he has never laid eyes on before."
"Want me to go with you when you see him?"
"Nah, I want to do this on my own, but thanks for the offer." Paige said smiling at Mark.
"Just remember I'm here if you need me Punky, no matter what." Mark said taking Paige's hand and rubbing it gently.
"I'll remember."
"Want to go get the kids and get some grub?"
"I think I've ruined my appetite with the ice cream, but I'm sure the kids could eat so yeah let's go we can take them for pizza or something." Paige said as she and Mark got up to leave.
As Mark and Paige walked outside Mark took Paige's hand in his. He pulled it up to his mouth and kissed it gently before opening her car door and helping her inside.
"I'll follow you back to your momma's and then we can take my truck to pick up the kids together." Mark told her.
"Sounds like a plan." Paige said smiling from ear to ear.
Paige was on cloud nine maybe she did have a chance with Mark and if she did she was going to do everything in her power not to screw it up.